media generalhttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/1000/all
enWeschler's world: Berkshire Hathaway buys 'Daily Progress'http://www.readthehook.com/103958/warrens-way-berkshire-hathaway-buys-daily-progress
<p>Ted Weschler has just become an even bigger media mogul in Charlottesville. That's because his boss, Warren Buffett, just bought most of debt-laden Media General's newspapers, and Weschler, co-owner of the <em>Hook</em> and <em>C-Ville Weekly</em>, finds himself <a href="http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/">orchestrating the purchase</a> of the <em>Daily Progress</em>.</p>
<div class="sidebar">
<h2>Prior stories</h2>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/71488/worrells-world-ex-dp-boss-re-envisions-newsbiz">Worrell's world: ex-DP boss re-envisions newsbiz</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/71997/daily-progress-lays-6-employees">Daily Progress lays off 6 employees</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/70376/partners-progress-hooks-growth-watchers">Partners: Progress hooks up with growth-watchers</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/70735/stock-soars-progress-parent-company-back-black">Stock soars: As Progress parent company back in black</a></p>
<p>• <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/73905/carriers-canned-post-farms-out-local-delivery">Carriers canned as Post farms out local delivery</a><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/files/old/stories/2005/01/06/newsLavishingiprogressiEmp.html"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/files/old/stories/2005/01/06/newsLavishingiprogressiEmp.html">Lavishing: 'Progress' employees get $8 gift</a></p>
</div>
<p>Oh, and Weschler is a contributor to Charlottesville Tomorrow, a nonprofit news agency that provides free content to the <em>Progress</em>.</p>
<p>With all those fingers in print media pies, the first thing Weschler tells a reporter in an exclusive interview is, "Berkshire has over 70 individual operating units. Warren takes pride in letting them run autonomously."</p>
<p>That means Weschler is not going to be hands-on at the <em>Progress</em>, or the <em>Richmond Times-Dispatch</em>, or the <em>Madison Eagle</em> or any of the 60 other Media General newspapers now joining the BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.</p>
<p>"I will have zero to do with the newspapers," says Weschler, who was tapped last September as one of Buffett's two top investment strategists and a potential heir apparent to the 81-year-old Oracle of Omaha.</p>
<p>"I sit at the top of the house at Berkshire Hathaway," says Weschler. "Warren is the chief capital allocator."</p>
<p>As the world's best-known "value investor," the Berkshire CEO has a long history of <a href="http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/subs/sublinks.html">buying businesses</a> that he thinks can make money, and that's why <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/100785/buffetted-weschler-invest-warrens-shareholders">he chose Weschler</a>, who founded the successful Peninsula Capital hedge fund and who shares a similar style of money-making.</p>
<p>So what about buying the papers of Media General, the venerable-but-debt-saddled Richmond firm best known as the home of the <em>Richmond Times-Dispatch</em>?</p>
<p>"This was surreal," says Weschler, who lives in Charlottesville and commutes to Omaha.</p>
<p>"[Buffett] walked into my office three weeks ago," says Weschler, "and said, 'This could be an interesting opportunity, and it involves your hometown.'"</p>
<p>Buffett is a well-known fan of newspapers. He owns a large chunk of the <em>Washington Post</em>, had an <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/warren-buffett-opens-love-life-snowball-article-1.326077">affair with late <em>Post</em> publisher Kay Graham</a>, and proudly owns the <em>Buffalo News</em> as well as his hometown's <em>Omaha World-Herald</em>.</p>
<p>"In towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper," Buffett says in a release about the deal to buy all of Media General's papers (except for a group in Tampa). Team Omaha will pay $142 million cash and supply a $400 million loan to get creditors off MG's back so it can repay a $362 million loan.</p>
<p>Weschler echoes Buffett: "If a sense of community is important, papers are important. It's unclear how newspapers will evolve over time, but they are of fundamental importance."</p>
<p>Also unclear, says Weschler, is how newspapers will play out economically.</p>
<p>One bit of bright news for newspaper lovers: the relatively recent Berkshire acquisition, the <em>Omaha World-Herald</em>, is profitable, says Weschler.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/berkshire-hathaway-buying-richmond-times-dispatch-other-media-general-papers/2012/05/17/gIQAzWf5VU_story.html">Berkshire Hathaway paid $200 million</a> for that group of 24 midwest papers last fall, making its $142 million acquisition of 63 Media General papers seem something of a bargain. How prices have fallen. In 1995, then owner Thomas A. Worrell Jr. sold the <em>Progress</em> as the flagship of a mere 29-paper chain to Media General for $230 million.</p>
<p>More problematic for Weschler may be his role as co-owner of two Charlottesville weeklies.</p>
<p>"I've got to wrestle through what me being on the board of the <em>Hook</em> and <em>C-Ville</em> means," he admits. "I briefed Warren. I think he thought it was a curiosity. The <em>Hook</em> and <em>C-Ville</em> are relatively small compared to the broad newspaper operations of Berkshire."</p>
<p>Complicating matters are Weschler's financial contributions to Charlottesville Tomorrow, which&#8211; in a much-heralded 2009 deal&#8211; began providing free content to the <em>Progress</em>, which competes with the two weeklies for stories and ad dollars.</p>
<p>"My support of Charlottesville Tomorrow predated its deal with the <em>Daily Progress</em>," notes Weschler.</p>
<p>Over at the daily paper, whose employees have recently faced unpaid furloughs as the parent corporation tried to tighten its debt-bloated belt, an ebullient-sounding Lawrence McConnell, publisher of the <em>Progress</em>, leaves a message for the <em>Hook</em>: "We're very excited about all this latest development."</p>
<p>When the <em>Hook</em> finally catches up with McConnell a day later, he says he had no idea about the deal until Thursday, May 17.</p>
<p>"Anytime a business is put up for sale, there's uncertainty," says McConnell. "We now have clarity about the future because the new owner is committed to community journalism for the long term."</p>
<p>In Richmond, BH Media execs met with <em>Times-Dispatch</em> employees Thursday morning, about a month before the planned June 25 close of the deal, and reassured them that Berkshire typically did not cut staff when making an acquisition.</p>
<p>"It sounds like good news," says former <em>Progress</em> reporter Bob Gibson, who now runs UVA's Sorensen Institute. "It sounds like a firm that knows about investing in newspapers is investing in newspapers. They are in the business as serious investors."</p>
<p>Over in the <em>Hook</em> newsroom, employees are scratching their heads about how Weschler's and Buffett's love of newspapers will play out at a small non-Berkshire Hathaway paper.</p>
<p>"Like many higher powers, Ted moves in strange and mysterious ways," says <em>Hook</em> editor Hawes Spencer, who is in the unusual position of working under Weschler and also along with him as a shareholder of the <em>Hook</em>. "I don't know how it's all going to shake out."</p>
<p><em>Updated May 18 with additional comment from Lawrence McConnell.</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/103958/warrens-way-berkshire-hathaway-buys-daily-progress#comments_BreakingNewsBusinessFeaturedMediaberkshire hathawaymedia generalted weschlerwarren buffettNewsThu, 17 May 2012 18:27:51 +0000lisa103958 at http://www.readthehook.comStrong Progress: Daily's parent back in blackhttp://www.readthehook.com/68922/strong-progress-dailys-parent-back-black
<p>The parent company of the <em>Daily Progress</em>, which struggled with red ink in the year-ago fourth quarter, is reporting a <span class="xn-money">profit of $27.4 million</span>, or <span class="xn-money">$1.18</span> per diluted share. This compares well with a net loss of <span class="xn-money">$85.5 million</span>, or <span class="xn-money">$3.86</span> per diluted share, for this Richmond-based company that owns a slew of television stations and papers including the <em>Tampa Tribune</em> and the <em>Richmond Times-Dispatch</em>. In a <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Media-General-Reports-prnews-2288563002.html?x=0" target="_blank">release</a>, the company cites cost-cutting and stronger ad sales for the quarter's profit.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/68922/strong-progress-dailys-parent-back-black#comments_BreakingNewsMediadaily progressmedia generalThu, 28 Jan 2010 14:17:52 +0000hawes68922 at http://www.readthehook.comStock soars: As Progress parent company back in blackhttp://www.readthehook.com/70735/stock-soars-progress-parent-company-back-black
<div class="captionLeftLandscape"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/news-bryan.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-10148" title="news-bryan" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/news-bryan-325x346.jpg" alt="" width="325" height="346" /></a><strong>Media General chair J. Stewart Bryan vowed in March that the company would "stick around</strong><strong>."</strong><br />
<small>FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER<br />
</small></div>
<p>Media General, the parent company of the <em>Daily Progress</em>, has conducted such <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/02/times-dispatch-lays-off-59/">extreme cost-cutting measures</a> that not only does it not appear to be in imminent danger of bankruptcy, but it actually reports that it <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003995994">turned a profit</a> in the second quarter&#8211;- despite publishing revenues about 20 percent lower than they were a year ago.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Following the release of the quarterly report, Media General's <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=meg">stock price</a> shot from just over $2 per share to over $5 per share.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"We continue to have a viable business," says <em>Progress</em> publisher Lawrence McConnell, noting that the venerable daily turns a profit.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">His newspaper reportedly saved about $3 million in capital costs a year ago, when Media General <a href="http://www.cvillenews.com/2008/07/07/progress-richmond-printing/">shuttered</a> its aging Charlottesville printing and mailing operation, which also served the company-owned Waynesboro daily. The move cost about 25 local jobs.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">The good news for Media General was followed by profit announcements by such industry peers as as the McClatchy Co. and Gannett Co. both of which <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090727-713382.html ">revealed</a> Q2 profits despite drops in ad revenue similar to what Media General experienced. However, the partent company to the Dallas Morning News, A.H. Belo, reported a second quarter loss.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><em>&#8211;last updated July 27 at 4:36pm</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/70735/stock-soars-progress-parent-company-back-black#comments_BreakingNewsBusinessMediadaily progressmedia generalWed, 22 Jul 2009 14:57:23 +0000hawes70735 at http://www.readthehook.comStrike a deal: Boxerjam marries into Progress familyhttp://www.readthehook.com/99193/strike-deal-boxerjam-marries-progress-family
<p>The staff of Boxerjam was literally sweating last week before the announcement that the company had been acquired by Media General, Inc. Was it because they feared the deal would fall through? Or were they getting cold feet about being purchased by a large corporation?<br />No. Actually it was because the air conditioning wasn’t working in the company's second floor offices on the Downtown Mall (across the hall from The Hook), and it was hot as blazes.<br />Still, the remaining staff of the online game company breathed a collective sigh of relief that the sale, in negotiation since last September, finally was announced.<br />At the height of dot.com fever, way back in 1999, Boxerjam employed 75 people and had no trouble attracting $12 million from venture capital firms. When the bubble burst in 2000 and advertising revenue dried up, the company withered to a skeleton crew&#8211; and began looking for a buyer.<br />Enter Media General. Although locals know it best for buying the Daily Progress from the Worrell family in 1995, the company owns 25 other dailies, nearly 100 other periodicals, and 26 television stations. The company stable ranges in quality from the so-called "state newspaper," The Richmond Times-Dispatch, all the way down to the Charlottesville Business Journal.<br />Boxerjam will join Media General’s interactive media division and be known as Boxerjam Media. “We’ll be a separate operating unit,” says Boxerjam president Temple Fennell, who will retain his title but will report to Neal Fondren, president of the division.<br />“We have an opportunity to leverage Boxerjam with our newspapers and with our television stations,” says Fondren. “We just bought Boxerjam, and I’m not quite ready to reveal our plans.”<br />Fennell suggests that his company, which made its reputation with a word game called Strike-A-Match, could be exploring pay-to-play options where people can win “significant” cash prizes. Another idea is charging a small monthly fee comparable to a magazine subscription for games like the puzzles because “for some people, it’s like their morning fix to do the puzzles,” says Fennell.<br />Fennell doesn’t anticipate Boxerjam Media growing much beyond its current staffing of seven to 10 game gurus anytime soon.<br />The highest profile of those game wizards is Julann Griffin, who created Jeopardy! when she was married to Merv Griffin. With her sibling Maureen Roberts, the sisters put the "J.A.M." (Julann And Maureen, get it?) in Boxerjam, and will still be available to develop games. Boxer and Jam merged in 1995. <br />Both Fennell and Media General decline to say how much Media General paid. “It was not material under SEC guidelines,” says Fondren.<br />The SEC says that as a rule of thumb, acquisitions and dispositions that are 10 percent of a company’s assets must be disclosed. Media General reported assets of $2.534 billion last year.<br />The big question for Charlottesville, of course, is whether the purchase of Boxerjam will somehow lead to a new and improved website for the Daily Progress, arguably one of the worst in town.<br />‘That was a ‘have you stopped beating your wife?’ question,” says Fondren, who promises that in the future, the Progress site “will be much different from what you see today with a focus on interactive services.” <br />As for that air conditioning problem at Boxerjam,&nbsp; “It’ll be one of our first capital expenditures,” jokes Fennell.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/99193/strike-deal-boxerjam-marries-progress-family#commentsboxerjammedia generalNewsFri, 15 Jul 2011 15:03:47 +0000lisa99193 at http://www.readthehook.com